MENTAL HEALTH - INFORMing
Professional Development > Learning Paths > School Mental Health Readiness
According to the literature, 3.8 million U.S. children have unmet mental health needs. Of children with an identified mental health need, only a little bit over half, 51% get the mental health support they need. Of those students, 58% get that help in schools. There is also a shortage of mental health providers, and many barriers to people finding linguistically and culturally appropriate services on top of other barriers that we know exist in school communities. For many students, schools are the first and only setting in which they receive behavioral health supports. This is why this topic is so critical for schools and districts.
The resources below are recommended for schools or districts who have done some work implementing mental health systems but need additional resources and support to ensure this work is successful. Your school or district may be exploring this work and wondering where to begin. These resources focus on Tier 1, which is foundational mental health literacy.
You are ready for the “informing” stage of the Mental Health Pillar if you and your teams understand best practices for comprehensive school mental health across multiple tiers and are ready to assess your needs, create or improve your behavioral health teaming structures, and build stronger Tier 1 services.
- 45 minutes
The School Mental Health Quality Assessment is designed for schools to assess the comprehensiveness of the school mental health system, and identify priority areas for improvement. The assessment covers seven domains: 1) Teaming; 2) Needs Assessment and Resource Mapping; 3) Mental Health Screening; 4) Mental Health Promotion – Tier 1; 5) Early Intervention and Treatment – Tier 2 & 3; 6) Funding and Sustainability; and 7) Impact. The assessment is best done as a team that has broad and diverse participation to ensure meaningful assessment, successful planning, and implementation. There is also a version that can be used at the district level.
This course from American Institutes of Reseach explains how school mental health supports and services work to address social, emotional, and behavioral challenges that interfere with learning should provide individual, family, and group counseling, consultation for school staff, and mental health promotion and prevention programming. Includes information on: best practices for building partnerships and collaboration; shared leadership teams; youth, family and community engagement; evidence-based programs, evaluation and outcomes.
Developing a Comprehensive Mental Health Program in Your School-Community – Overview
- 75 mins
Comprehensive school mental health systems provide an array of supports and services that promote positive school climate, social and emotional learning, and mental health and well-being, while reducing the
prevalence and severity of mental illness. This 2019 guide from National Center for School Mental Health offers collective insight and guidance to local communities and states to advance comprehensive school mental health systems. Contents were informed by examination of national best practices and performance standards, local and state exemplars, and recommendations provided by federal/national, state, local and private leaders.
link https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/media/som/microsites/ncsmh/documents/bainum/Advancing-CSMHS_September-2019.pdf
- 45 minutes
- 15 minutes
One in six U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year, and half of all mental health conditions begin by age 14. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), behavior problems, anxiety, and depression are the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders in children. Yet, about half of youth with mental health conditions received any kind of treatment in the past year. NAMI believes that public policies and practices should promote greater awareness and early identification of mental health conditions. NAMI supports public policies and laws that enable all schools, public and private, to increase access to appropriate mental health services. Check out their website for information on policy and advocacy work to promote mental health in schools.
- 15 minutes
Schools can reference this example slide presentation that outlines the strategy to build competency, capacity and confidence in teachers so they can deliver a mental health literacy curriculum to improve outcomes for students.
- 25 minutes
This resource guide from California’s Student Behavioral Health Incentive Program provides toolkits, resources, guides, and provide background and step-by-step instruction on how to assemble a resource map. It also offers visual examples of resource maps, examples of infographics and website menus that provide a snapshot of available behavioral health services.
- 10 minutes
This website is packed with information on mental health-related topics. Their team creates high quality mental health literacy information, research, education and resources. Our materials are provided in a variety of mediums that include videos, animations, brochures, e-books, face-to-face training programs, and mental health literacy curricula for elementary and high schools. Materials are specifically designed to meet the needs of children, youth, young adults, families, educators, community agencies and health care providers.
- 10 minutes
This website is packed with information on mental health-related topics. Their team creates high quality mental health literacy information, research, education and resources. Our materials are provided in a variety of mediums that include videos, animations, brochures, e-books, face-to-face training programs, and mental health literacy curricula for elementary and high schools. Materials are specifically designed to meet the needs of children, youth, young adults, families, educators, community agencies and health care providers.
- 4 minutes
This video discusses the mental health literacy pyramid and the accurate language to use when discussing mental health.
- 10 minutes
It’s important for prospective public health professionals to understand what mental health literacy is. A useful mental health literacy definition is: the knowledge of and ability to learn about mental health. This includes general knowledge of the signs and symptoms of as well as the treatment resources for mental illnesses, and the ability to recognize, manage, and seek support for mental health issues. Mental health literacy starts with recognizing the foundations of good mental health. Check out this website from Tulane University for more information on mental health literacy.
Mental Health Literacy: Definition, Importance, and Impact – School of Public Health
- 10 minutes
This document from National Center for School Mental Health provides an overview of the key elements of school-community partnerships and specific action steps for states, districts, and communities to foster effective collaboration between schools and community health and behavioral health partners.
- 15 minutes
This document from National Center for School Mental Health is part of its School Mental Health Quality Guides. This guide provides information to help school mental health systems advance the quality of their services and supports and contains background information on teaming, best practices, possible action steps, examples from the field, and resources about teaming.
- 15 minutes
This document from National Center for School Mental Health is part of its School Mental Health Quality Guides. This guide provides information to help school mental health systems advance the quality of their services and supports and contains background information on teaming, best practices, possible action steps, examples from the field, and resources. This guide contains background information on needs assessment and resource mapping, best practices, possible action steps, examples from the field, and resources.
- 15 minutes
The Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide developed in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association provides a complete set of educational tools to increase understanding of mental health and mental disorders among both students and teachers. The guide focuses on training teachers to be comfortable with their own knowledge of mental health and mental disorders, and then empowers the teachers to share this knowledge with their students through a curriculum delivered in a multiple module format. The program uses a variety of interactive sessions that help to promote dialogue among students, as well as with their teachers. Discussing mental health and mental illness in a supportive, familiar environment enables youth to feel safe, ask questions, gain knowledge, combat stigma and develop their own opinions of the world around them. The teachers training materials are provided for free, and many of the other materials are incorporated into this curriculum site.
Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide (Version 3) – Mental Health Literacy